I've read several conflicting reports as to whether this was in fact Anne Boleyn's real name or just a nickname given her by the people who hated her as a 'commoner'.
Did the Boleyns 'Frenchify' their surname from Bullen?
Thanks to anyone who can clear this up.
Banana hammock!
I'm fairly certain Nan was just a nick name for Anne that was used at the time. As for the Bullen question, i thought that was due to to lack of distinct ways of spelling at the time and as a result they had a lot variations on how to spell many words including names. If anyone knows for sure please correct me.
share silcock-2 is correct. Nan was a nick name for Anne - and her last name, or any name for that matter was not considered to have a proper spelling. Spelling as we know it now is very different. When researching my family tree, my family all used four different spellings - I could use one spelling and my brother could use another and both would be considered correct at the time. There are even, I believe, instances when the same person has signed letters and spelled their own name differently!
I think that the spelling was in fact Frenchified or made to look clasier than Bullen. Boleyn is a lot prettier!
Most likely a nickname - in the Shakespeare play, Henry VIII...she was references as Nan Bullen.
"I don't understand" ~IMDB's Victoria Winters
Boleyn was indeed Frenchified from "Bullen". It was pretty common back then. But then again, as another poster said, spelling was incredibly erratic back then. Look at the names of all Henry's wives - especially the Catherines. You'll see Catherine, Katharine, Katherine, and Kathryn - there was no standardized spelling even of one's own name!
Nan was simply a nickname for Anne.
Calling her "Nan Bullen" was the English people's way of showing their contempt for her. Calling her "Nan", a nickname, was familiar and showed they didn't respect her, they viewed her as a nobody, not as their rightful Queen. (Of course, the nickname thing could go both ways. When they called Henry VIII "Great Harry" it showed affection, not contempt. The same goes for when they called Elizabeth "Good Queen Bess") Similarly, "Bullen" was the less fancy, more common form of the name, emphasizing her humble origins.
I saw a copy of a letter in which Anne referred to herself as "Anne Boleyn."
shareTo be sure if/when the spelling changed, you'd have to go back to original records for her father, grandfather, and great-grandfather who was mayor of London in the mid 15th century.
Also remember that at this time, people not only had their names spelled in various ways by others, but often you find that they themselves spell it in various ways. There simply was no standardized spelling then. As my high school English teacher said, this is the difference between grammar and usage - spelling changed because the person was more worried about people understanding what they wrote than standardized spelling. Which makes reading documents from that time a pain to read, even when you can decipher the handwriting. I remember the first time I saw a copy of one of Henry's letters to Anne and thinking, "Is this in English?"
As far as "Nan" goes, I have found in genealogical records well into the 20th century where a person's name is listed as "Anne/Nancy/Nan", which can make records research a nightmare. Also, Sally and Sarah seem to be interchangeable. Go figure.
I've read that Shakespeare spelled his own name more different ways than anyone else in history.
Edward
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